Charity Begins on the Internet

Do-good organization with tiny budget raises money through e-shoppers at iGive.com

EVANSTON, Ill. (January 12, 2000) Every day, Giving@Home's Paula Duffy switches on the computer at her home office in Atlanta, goes to her charity's Web site, and finds pleas for help from people all over the country.  Some are coping with family tragedy, like the mother seeking a tombstone to mark her murdered daughter's grave; others have high medical bills or no money for food or utilities.  With only Internet-based membership and no traditional fund-raising capabilities, Duffy and her board are constantly scrounging for funds.

Appropriately enough for a virtual organization, Giving@Home found a virtual solution: iGive.com, a cyber-shopping mall where a portion of every purchase made through any of 200 participating merchants is donated to the cause of the shopper's choice.  In just a few months, 365 supporters have raised $1,655 for Duffy's grassroots giving efforts simply by going to www.iGive.com/Giving@Home and shopping through iGive.com.  Duffy believes the e-charity shopping portal will play an increasingly important role in helping her help others.

"I think iGive is one of the best things that has happened to us," Duffy said.  "We just received a check that we're going to use to buy food vouchers or WalMart certificates for families of terminally ill children.  Without iGive, we wouldn't have been able to help these people."

A former real estate broker, Duffy stumbled onto her philanthropic pastime two years ago when she began surfing eBay for clothes and hats to send to homeless shelters.  eBay heard about her efforts and asked her to coordinate a section of the site enabling people to post items for auction and give the proceeds to charity. 

Within a few months, Giving@Home outgrew its berth on eBay and struck out on its own at www.givingboard.com.  In the beginning, its meager budget of $1,700 to $2,000 per month came solely from regular visitors and casual surfers who donated items to be auctioned over the Internet or purchased auction items to benefit the organization. 

Now champions of Duffy's cause are generating extra funds by doing their everyday online shopping at iGive.com's virtual shopping mall.  Up to 15 percent of every purchase goes to Giving@Home, and benefactors don't pay a penny extra for their purchases because all donations come out of the fee iGive.com receives for bringing its merchants online business.

Since its inception in 1997, iGive.com has generated nearly $616,000 for thousands of worthy causes designated by members who shop through the Mall at iGive.com.  The site's stores include big names like BarnesandNoble.com, eToys, CDNow, Dell Computers, The Sharper Image, PlanetRX, J.Crew, JC Penney, AtYourOffice.com, Beyond.com and Outpost.com as well as specialty stores from DogToys.com to Green Marketplace, Swiss Army Depot and Tiemaster.  Donations to qualifying organizations are tax-deductible.

Many of the more than 7,000 beneficiaries are small organizations like Giving@Home that lack the resources to hold large fund-raising campaigns.  Recipients range from animal shelters and school marching bands to medical research foundations, women's shelters and missing children advocacy groups.

"iGive.com pioneered the concept of e-charity because we had a vision of harnessing the power of the Internet to benefit causes that are close to people's hearts," said Robert Grosshandler, founder and CEO of iGive.com.  "Giving@Home's ability to raise money through our site is a perfect example of the success of that vision, and there are thousands of additional success stories all over the country.  Giving is becoming a way of life for e-shoppers, and the world is a better place for it."